A dystopian future, in which genetically altered humans look down upon those without abilities, has only hope for a better tomorrow that comes from someone who doesn’t just lack powers, but finds himself confined to a wheelchair.
When I saw that Tom Felton was going to be in the sci-fi film ‘Altered’, I playfully referred to the concept as Malfoy 2099. Jokes aside, I was actually excited to see the Harry Potter alumni in a genre with as much unlimited potential as fantasy. I was also very intrigued to see that he would be joining Richard Brake in the movie. Brake has most recently appeared in The Strangers trilogy and the Sisu sequel, but horror fans will recognize him from Rob Zombie projects and a slew of other guilty pleasures. I thought for sure that I’d found a winning combination when it came to these two actors and the mixed history of their past projects but despite their efforts, Altered found itself to be a mess of a film.
Initially presenting itself as a sci-fi espionage tale, the narrative finds itself facing an identity crisis. We first see Tom Felton’s character Leon as a wheelchair bound man living in a world where he, and anyone else without genetic enhancements, are seen as inferiors and treated as such. He’s out on a personal mission to take from the rich, and give to the poor, by supplying technologically augmented individuals with a power source lifted from the upper class. He does this with the help of a young girl named Chloe, who accompanies him on missions and helps take care of him back home. This “Robin Hood of the Future” approach, paired with the fact that Leon was handicapped, gives Altered a fresh feeling during its opening act. This quickly vanishes as Leon places himself in a fully augmented suit, and proceeds to turn the narrative into a low budget superhero outing.
Richard Brake portrays Kessler, the films’ villain and head of the organization that keeps genetically enhanced humans in power. He has a close personal history with Leon, who eventually discovers the dark secrets behind his operation. This is where we find ourselves in the third and final acts where espionage, superhuman shenanigans, and a societal uprising all come together, wrapped up with family drama, a motivational speech or two, and an optimistic ending that feels almost “too easy” given all we see happening in this world. The world itself is well crafted, given the film’s budget. Comparable to a sci-fi series that would have aired on TV, it’s neither too impressive nor bad looking. Think less “Blade Runner” and more “Star Trek – The Next Generation”.
While there’s nothing inherently bad with the story, its constant shift into completely different tones keep it from being something I would recommend. Aside from a few solid performances, most of the acting is rather stiff. Fight scenes are poorly choreographed and likely didn’t see many re-shoots and a few of the special effects come off as campy instead of cool. This all starts to make sense when you consider the writer and director, Tom Vuorensola’s other work. He’s mostly known for Iron Sky, the film franchise about Nazis who hid on the moon until 2018. He also brought us Jeepers Creepers: Reborn in 2022. These films are very tongue-in-cheek and present themselves in a way that presents serious situations with comedic angles. This approach was also brought to Altered, which could have found itself in a better position had the film been presented more seriously. This brings me to my final note. I can’t tell if Altered was supposed to be an entirely serious film, as it initially has the charm of a low budget horror outing. Sadly, the charm didn’t remain, and I find myself more intrigued by the fact that Altered even existed, than by the story itself.
There’s a good story in there somewhere. Perhaps one that would have been better served as an independent comic book, or an animated feature of some kind. As a live-action outing, Altered seems to try to do too much with too little while also trying to take on a serious tone despite how it presents itself. You’ll laugh while watching Altered, and I’m not sure that was the intention here at all.
For those of you interested in seeing a cinematic anomaly that hits a lot of notes but can’t quite stick a landing, you just might be entertained by Altered which releases on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-Ray and DVD, on January 20th.